pern, yu cong universiti putra malaysia - faculty of forestry - department of forest management, Selangor, Malaysia , lee, shiou yih universiti putra malaysia - faculty of forestry - department of forest management, Selangor, Malaysia , kamarudin, norizah universiti putra malaysia - faculty of forestry - department of forest management, Selangor, Malaysia , mohamed, rozi universiti putra malaysia - faculty of forestry - department of forest management, Selangor, Malaysia

Genetic variation and DNA barcoding of the endangered agarwood-producing Aquilaria beccariana (Thymelaeaceae) populations from the Malesia Region

28452

The endangered agarwood-producing Aquilaria beccariana is reportedly secluded in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula (MPen) and more dispersed in the northern and central regions of the Borneo Island (Bor). The two are geographically separated by the South China Sea. Fresh leaf samples from 47 individuals were collected from six natural populations, including Mersing (MERS) of MPen; Upper Baram (BARA1), Marudi (BARA2), and Lawas (LAWA) of Sarawak; Tongod (TONG) of Sabah, and Kalimantan (KALI) of Indonesia, to study their phylogenetic relationship. Seven non-coding chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) regions and the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were amplified and sequenced using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Several closely related Aquilaria species were included to demonstrate the molecular position of A. beccariana. Phylogenetic analysis, median-joining (MJ) network, and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) assembled the six populations into two major clusters, MPen and Bor, when using the combined cpDNA dataset, whereas the Bor populations were further clustered into northern and central populations. DNA barcoding analysis using the combined trnL–trnF+ITS2 loci of 12 Aquilaria species revealed that species discrimination is possible for A. beccariana at both species and population levels. In conclusion, this work provides useful genetic information that may help in the management and conservation of agarwood resources.

85

Chloroplast DNA , conservation genetics , gene fragment region

Forestist

94